03327cam a22003493u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003701000130007804000110009104100170010205000070011910000300012624500330015626400510018930000470024033600260028733700260031333800360033950000310037550000310040650505760043750801620101352015840117553400560275965300280281585600720284385600430291599900190295877149UtSlPG20260610134804.0mcr n260607r2025||||utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  a16012599  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aNK1 aCrane, Walter,d1845-191514aThe claims of decorative art 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2025  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier  aIllustrated by the author.  aRelease date is 2025-10-290 aThe claims of decorative art -- The architecture of art -- Figurative art -- Sculpture: from a decorator's point of view -- Painting at the present day: from a decorator's point of view -- On the structure and evolution of decorative pattern -- Art and labour -- Art and handicraft -- The prospects of art under socialism -- On the teaching of art -- Design in relation to use and material -- The importance of the applied arts, and their relation to common life -- Art and commercialism -- Art and social democracy -- Imitation and expression in art -- Art and industry.  aAlan, The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)  a"The claims of decorative art" by Walter Crane is a collection of essays on art and design written in the late 19th century. It argues for the dignity and centrality of the decorative and applied arts, their unity with architecture, and their deep ties to everyday life, labour, and social conditions. The work critiques commercialism and machine production for degrading taste, and champions craftsmanship, pattern, and figurative thought as foundations of a healthy artistic culture.

The opening of the work sets out a manifesto: decorative art is not a lesser field but the root system that sustains painting and sculpture, and beauty must permeate daily surroundings to nourish higher arts. Crane insists art is a language shaped by material, use, and social environment; he rebukes exhibition culture and “flatness-only” clichés, arguing adaptability, harmony, and decorum are the true tests of decoration. He broadens “architecture” to mean the structural background of life and thought, showing how economic forces and commercialism fragment the arts and stifle spontaneity, while a more communal mode of living could restore their unity. He then surveys figurative art’s vitality from satire to ideal allegory, defends sculpture and painting from a decorator’s standpoint, outlines the logic and evolution of pattern (from square and circle to scrolls, frets, and fans), and links art to labour, calling for revived handicraft against mechanised production and its erosion of both joy in work and public taste. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cLondon: Lawrence and Bullen.  aDecoration and ornament4 uhttps://archive.org/details/claimsofdecorati00cran/page/n5/mode/2up40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77149  c117871d117871